This is the 14th in a course of computer science video lessons introducing programming with Python. This lesson covers a well-known algorithm called the linear search. A linear search involves scanning a list, with a loop, and testing each item in turn to see if the list contains the target value. You will learn how to write code for a linear search using a while loop. You will also learn how to perform the same task using an if statement with the in operator. This lesson mentions how a list is stored in the computer’s memory, and the impact of this on the efficiency of a linear search compared with retrieving an individual item in a list if its index number is known.
